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And the winner is: La Rinascente

by Sabine Kühnl — June 02, 2016

At this year’s Global Department Store Summit (GDSS) held in Zurich (26/27 May) it was award time again. The big winner of the renowned event is Italian department store La Rinascente taking home the price in the category “The Best Department Store in the World 2016“.

“Winning this award is a great honour and a source of extreme satisfaction for the little shop established in Milan 150 years ago and now selected as the best department store in the world. It’s a tribute to the work of all the people who ensure that every day la Rinascente is recognised as an ideal destination to enjoy a rewarding and engaging experience” said Alberto Baldan, CEO of La Rinascente, after receiving the trophy.

Another winner is Selfridges in the newly established category “World's Best Sustainability/CSR Campaign by a Department Store“. As the GDSS jury explained the criteria of this award are “the main idea including its originality and pertinence to the wider context of corporate social responsibility; execution, and resulting audience impact“. Selfridges was awarded in context with its ‘Buying Better, Inspiring Change’ campaign.

Last but not least, Harvey Nichols was among the happy few receiving an award in the category “World's Best Store Window Campaign at a Department Store 2016“ for its ‘Avoid Gift Face’ campaign. While most talk in retail is about new technologies this category “celebrates one of the industry’s oldest and most iconic communication channels and recognises the creativity, innovation and talent of visual merchandising teams“ as the GDSS jury explained.

The GDSS Zurich two-day event was the fifth edition of its kind, and during its programme focused on the travel and tourism topic affecting also the department store segment. Among the speakers were high-profiled executives such as Yuwadee Chirathivat, CEO of Central Department Store Group, Daniel Grieder, CEO of Tommy Hilfiger, and Anne Pitcher, Managing Director of Selfridges & Co.